


Of Cloudless Climes and Starry Skies

by BreTheWriter



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Gen, Starfleet Academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BreTheWriter/pseuds/BreTheWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As worried as he is about Jim Kirk, Christopher Pike can't seem to stop remembering the way Leonard McCoy behaves in an emergency.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Cloudless Climes and Starry Skies

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if this is a sequel or a companion piece, but it goes alongside [All That's Best of Dark and Bright.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/991272) I suggest reading that one first or you're not going to understand much of what's going on.

Hackett and Pike sat hunched over the corner booth at Brewsky's, neither one touching their coffee. It wasn't the kind of place admirals usually frequented--mostly it was populated by the Academy students, or students from the nearby college--but they'd decided to go tonight. Neither was quite sure why, but here they were.

Pike finally broke the silence. "Thank God he made it back."

"Thank God," Hackett agreed. "But then, I never really doubted he would."

"You're the _only_ one, then." Pike stared into his coffee. "I know the kid's tough. I know what he's been through. You know he was on Tarsus?"

Hackett chuckled bitterly. "Christopher, you seem to have forgotten that I was still captain of the _Lexington_ back then. Of _course_ I knew he was on Tarsus. I'm the one that had to talk to him."

"You're right, I had forgotten," Pike said softly. He looked up, and Hackett could see that his pale eyes were haunted. "But, you know, even knowing what he'd gone through, even knowing what he was capable of--I really thought we'd lost him."

Hackett shook his head in disgust. "I can't _believe_ we've been letting Jameson put cadets through this for so long. I knew he wanted the survival courses to be as realistic as possible, and Phlox told me he's patched up quite a few injuries. But to lose _two_ cadets? For a _week?_ "

"Not to mention Fisher's leg," Pike pointed out.

"According to McCoy's latest report, he's going to be just fine."

"McCoy," Pike mused. "How many people in this survival class is he primary for, anyway?"

"Just two," Hackett replied. "Kirk and Fisher. And he wasn't Fisher's primary to begin with. Fisher requested he be the one to treat him."

Pike raised an eyebrow. "They friends or something?"

Hackett shook his head. "Fisher met him for the first time while he was helping treat the rest of the survival class for various injuries and illnesses."

"Tell me the truth, Matthew. Do you think Jim's gonna pull through?" Pike looked up pleadingly.

"I'm sure of it," Hackett said positively. "You heard McCoy. If he says Kirk'll be fine, he'll be fine."

Pike sat in silence for a moment. At last, he said, "I want him on my ship."

Hackett was a little startled by the comment. "Kirk? I thought that was a given. Said in his recruitment package that he was to be assigned to--"

"No, not Kirk," Pike interrupted. "Well, I mean, yeah, I want him on my ship, too, but like you said, that's a given. No, I was talking about McCoy. I want him on my ship."

Now Hackett was _really_ startled. "Why?" he blurted. It wasn't that he didn't think Leonard McCoy was a good doctor--far from it. It was only that Christopher Pike was one of the most senior captains in Starfleet, actually up for an admirality soon. "His ship" was still in the yards, but it would be setting off within the next two years, and not only would it be the newest ship of the line, but the flagship of the whole fleet of starships, the USS _Enterprise_. Pike could have any doctor he wanted, literally. Famous surgeons and seasoned veterans were already trying to call in favors to have themselves assigned to her. Why would Pike settle for a Georgia boy, a simple country doctor who hadn't even begun his second year at the Academy yet?

"Did you see him in there, Matt?" Pike said softly, looking back up at Hackett again. "You've seen him the last few days. He's Jim Kirk's best friend. Next to me, he's probably the person that cares about Jim the most in the world--and actually, I'm not even sure he doesn't care _more_ about Jim than I do. I don't think he's slept more than a couple of hours or eaten a damned thing in the last two weeks. He was _terrified_ for that boy. And now Jim's back, and he's got a whole litany of illnesses, and looking at him you wouldn't think he'd last long enough for a diagnostic."

"He looked pretty bad," Hackett admitted, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth he wondered which one he was talking about.

"And what did McCoy do?" Pike continued. "Did he stop? Did he pass out? Did he panic? All three of those things would be normal. But he _went to work_ , Matthew. He plunged right in there and started barking orders, efficiently and concisely. He didn't crack under pressure and he didn't bat an eyelash when you asked what was going on and he didn't stop what he was doing while he answered." He shook his head. "He's doing his job even though inside he must be falling apart. And what's more, he's doing it _well_. He'll make a damned good battle surgeon. You'd better believe I want him on my ship."

Hackett smiled, the first time he'd cracked an honest grin since the ship had lost contact with his most promising student twelve days before. "I'll make a note in McCoy's file when I get back to my office, then. As long as he keeps up the grades he's been making, he ought to graduate in three years, same as Kirk."

Pike actually chuckled. "You think he's really gonna manage that, then?"

"I'm gonna wait and see how he does this upcoming quarter, but at the end of it, if he does as well as I think he's going to do, I'll push through the last of the paperwork and save him a year. Same with McCoy." Hackett smiled a little wider. "And both of them will be ready to join the _Enterprise's_ crew the minute she's out of the yards."

"Good." Pike nodded in satisfaction and picked up his coffee cup.

Hackett's communicator chirped in his pocket. Quickly, he pulled it out and flicked it open, holding it so that Pike could hear, too. "Hackett here."

"Admiral, this is Dr. Phlox." The thin, reedy voice of the old doctor carried clearly to both men. Pike sat up straighter. "I have the reports on both cadets from the--survival course."

"Go ahead, Phlox," Hackett said. He met Pike's eyes, and both of them had stopped smiling. Despite his confident words, he was worried, and it was obvious Pike was, too.

"Fleming is in critical condition, but he will recover," Phlox said. "Eventually. I believe this little--incident--will set him back at least two quarters. He is severely malnourished, dehydrated, and had apparently ingested the flesh of some sort of reptile which very nearly poisoned him, and certainly affected his brain. Those effects had mostly passed, of course, but...well, it's a good thing he got to us when he did."

Pike swallowed hard. Hackett understood. "Glad to hear he'll survive, Phlox. What about the other?"

"According to Dr. McCoy, it looked worse than it was," Phlox said dryly. "According to the statistics provided to me by him, by Nurse Chapel, and by a review of the diagnostic machine's tapes, it was _precisely_ as bad as it appeared. Dehydration, sunburn, malnutrition, and a deep and slightly infected cut across his lower back resulting in severe blood loss. But he has an amazingly strong constitution--and, if I may say so, he received _phenomenal_ medical care. I expect he'll be up and about within the week."

Pike closed his eyes and exhaled. "Thank God."

"You're a miracle worker, Phlox," Hackett said gratefully.

"I? Nonsense. Despite his condition, Fleming was remarkably easy to treat. It was determining what had poisoned him that was the trouble. McCoy is the miracle worker here. He saved that young man's life. The _Enterprise_ could have used him, back in the day."

"She'll get her chance," Hackett said with a smile. "Captain Pike and I will be by to see your patients shortly."

"Copy that, Admiral. Phlox out."

Hackett closed his communicator and looked at Pike. "You about done your coffee?"

Pike drained the cup and stood. "Let's go. I've got a cadet to lecture--and a doctor to thank."

"Yeah," Hackett said softly, with a flash of insight. "I think we all have."

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to add this onto ATBoDaB...Phlox is from _Enterprise._ He was the CMO under Archer.


End file.
